Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828)

The son of a snuff miller recently arrived from Scotland, Gilbert Stuart grew up in Rhode Island at a dramatic time in American history. He studied locally with Newport artist Cosmo Alexander, with whom he traveled to Edinburgh as a teenager. Tragically, in 1772, Alexander passed away during their trip, leaving young Stuart to work his way back to America as a seaman. Upon his return, he began his career as a portraitist, but at the onset of the Revolution, his loyalist family moved to Canada and Stuart caught the last boat to London out of Boston Harbor before the battle of Bunker Hill. In London he was eventually befriended and influenced by expatriate American painter Benjamin West, with whom he stayed for five years. In 1782, Stuart exhibited The Skater (Portrait of William Grant) at the Royal Academy, a boost in confidence which inspired him to pursue his portrait work independently. He found many clients, however, his poor business sense soon found creditors knocking on his door and he fled to Ireland and finally back to America in 1793, hoping to paint the leading members of the new republic.  

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As Stuart had hoped, his career flourished with his famous portrait of George Washington in 1794, and while he painted many of the prominent members of society, he devoted equal diligence to his portraits of lesser-known subjects. Stuart was a rapid and prolific worker, which may explain somewhat the spontaneity and brilliance of his portraits.  He was said to be eloquent but cranky, irreverent yet well mannered.  He displayed great insight into his subjects’ personalities, and many letters and references of the famous men of his day attest to their warm regard for him. Stuart dominated his field from the close of the Revolution until his death in Boston in 1828.